Nuances

“E pluribus unum” – Latin for "Out of many, one". At the age of 34, I went on my first solo trip. A solo trip not to a nearby village or city but to Washington DC. It was just my third week in the USA and I took the brave decision to travel on my own to explore DC. I was ably guided by my sister and all the reservations were taken care of by her. All I did was to step into the flight from Memphis to DC. I came across the motto mentioned at the top of this blog during my orientation program at the Capitol Hill but I feel this motto not only applies to the political history of the United States but resonates in every aspect of DC. The journey to DC was uneventful and I landed at the Ronald Reagan airport with no hitches. Armed with a Google Maps extract of the Metro journey, I made my way to the Metro Station which was literally a hop, skip and jump from the airport. One can actually see the coaches whiz past if you lift your head up a bit as you exit the airport. Hav...

The Cricket World Cup is here again. This time, all the action is happening in the country I live in; how lucky! My husband, I and little man were lucky to get tickets for India’s first match which was against South Africa in Southampton. There was some rain the previous day and more was predicted for the next. However, match day remained rain free. Again, what luck!!! The match provided everything one could expect - exciting moments, heart stopping moments, emotional moments and of course boring moments too. The result was definitely what we were hoping for - India won the match. Hang on, the actual game is not the topic of this blog. As I looked around the sea of people amongst whom I sat, a few characters caught my eye. This blog is dedicated to those individuals who bring a smile to your lips and make you raise your brows. Selfie Queen: Selfie Queen caught my eye very early on in the day. She was sitting with her family in the row right in front of mine. From an overheard co...

Longleat was not even on our itinerary but we ended up spending an entire day at the Safari, zoo and park. Oh! Are you asking me why I am saying this to you? Fair enough; let me rewind a little bit. After wrestling a lot with the idea of visiting Scotland during the late May bank holiday I managed to convince the better half to visit the Eden Project in South Wales. It had long been on my wish list but we had never managed to visit the place in spite of visiting Wales a number of times. Thus spawned the travel plan for 3 nights and 3 days. For a change, the idea was not to visit a single farm or zoo this time as they have always been included in our travel plans to keep the little man happy. But, it was not to be as you shall see. We began our 600 mile round trip road journey on a Friday evening to avoid tiring the little one with 5 hours of journey. On second thoughts, was it to avoid him getting tired or avoid him tiring us out with his constant whining? Anyway, the break journey...

I am writing this blog at the risk of forgetting some very good moments that I had in the Netherlands; or can I? After two hectic but very satisfying trips to Rome and Paris, we were least prepared for the trip to the Netherlands. A busy day at work and a rushed train journey to London culminating in me sprinting to Stanstead set the tone but the next 48 hours could not have been more different. My better half had succeeded in getting us premier tickets on the Eurostar to Amsterdam. It was indeed a treat! There was a delicious and nutritious meal offered on board which made us repent our decision to grab a quick bite before hopping on the train. The coach was lightly occupied and therefore we were offered a complete cubicle for ourselves with retractable tables and spacious seats. We spent most of the time admiring the views outside and playing cards. We reached Amsterdam at half past 10 in the night and were immediately greeted by scores of people riding bicycles outside the sta...

Our visit to Rome is still fresh in my mind. The backpacks were still partially unpacked, and photos were still being viewed. This did not stop us from exploring another jewel of Europe – Paris. The journey to Paris was made by train. We took the Eurostar from London to Paris and zipped into the Gare du Nord station in under two and a half hours. Apart from the fact that we had to go through passport and security checks, it was like any other local train journey. People were busy on their laptops, headphones, books or simply dozing. I did not realize when the landscape from England merged into that of France. The same green meadows, distant houses, rows of trees and fog – nothing to differentiate the two land masses. The Gare du Nord train station has an impressive façade and opens its doors to let you abruptly into the hustle and bustle of urban Paris. We were welcomed by a Burger King, a Chinese restaurant and a Mc Donald’s outlet. Nestled in between all these big shops was a tin...

“Travelling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta I am surprised it has taken me 7 years to set foot on mainland Europe since moving to the UK. For somebody who enjoys travelling and visiting new places, this seems crazy; but hey ho! Better late than never! I finally managed to hop across the ocean and landed in Rome over the Easter weekend. Leaving behind Junior felt odd but there is no way I would have troubled him on such a journey. He will find his way there some day in not a distant future. Rome - is it a city or a never ending live museum? It certainly is a confluence of opposites. On one hand you have the grandeur of the past being painstakingly taken care of and on the other you have the more recent habitation which certainly could benefit from a touch of TLC. There is evidence of a well intended city structure which is crying for maintenance. Taking a cue from seasoned travellers, we travelled light which helped us sail thr...

Hello everybody, it's me Junior Solitary Reaper here. A big thank you to all of you who sent your compliments to amma on reading my earlier blog. It has inspired me to write one more in quick succession. I have realised that writing about my adventures gives me more pleasure than singing Old Mc Donald. Yes you read it right; I can sing that nursery rhymes and many more. I have gone a step further and added wild animals into it. Why should kids sing only about farm animals? The poor wild animals were getting really sad that they were not invited on OMD's farm. So I thought "hey, I play with both farm and wild animals in the bath tub while I take a bubble bath therefore I should include both in the song". Now I have Moo cow playing together with Roar lion. All the animals are very happy now. Talking of being happy the other day I was happily watching an episode of Lion Guard when I saw something very funny. A long haired guy with only his under pants was jumping from ...

Hello everybody. Remember me? I am junior solitary reaper. It has been quite a while since I wrote about my adventures as a super busy toddler. You see, I have now learnt important things like flipping through my animal pop up books, singing old Mc Donald, eating ice cream and making my dinosaur eat my toy cow. So, naturally I am finding it extremely difficult to write about my adventures. On top of all of this mum and dad have prohibited me from taking an afternoon nap which makes me go to bed early.  Little do they understand that I need more time in the day and not less if I have to keep up my commitments. The other day I stealthily joined the group of kids who were getting ready to take a nap in the nap room at nursery. But blow! Kelly found me and marched me back to the playroom. Drat! I should maybe put on somebody else’s clothes and a mask; then I may be successful at hoodwinking her. At times I think mum is doing this to me on purpose because of the early morning prank I ...

“Sunshine daisies butter mellow Turn this car seat into a pillow” How I wish I could twirl a magic wand and make these words come true? Wondering why??? Well you see, dad and mum took me on this incredibly long journey to Scotland and most of the time I was in the car I was either sleeping or listening to my mum and cousins singing nursery rhymes. If I could only turn my car seat into a pillow I could have slept better. Anyway let me share a few titbits of this trip. I've always heard mum raving about their annual trip to Scotland and how they missed it last year as I was a wee baby (hey look I have picked up a few Scottish words). So I was really curious to find out what makes Scotland such a great place to visit. We started the first leg of our journey from Petey town to Edinburgh by train. Now, it was not as simple as it sounds. As we took a taxi from our house to the train station in the confusion of stuffing in 3 adults, 3 children 2 car seats, a pram and a myriad of...

Hi folks!!! It’s Junior Solitary Reaper here again. It has been a long time since I shared all the giant thoughts in my tiny brain. I have been very busy over the last few months. Appa and amma took me on my first ever road trip to York. We were accompanied by Tata, Pati and uncle Pat. It was uncle Pat’s first visit to the UK and I got a feeling that he had a good time indeed. I was a bit shy the first few days and I did not let him carry me. But after being constantly driven in a car for three days with him, I got very comfy with my dear uncle Pat. He is very good at baby talk and kept calling me “Paapa”! On the road trip I got to experience sun, rain, sand, waves and a lot of greenery. I was lucky to be nestled between Pati and Tata in the car as they kept me very busy and did not let me get bored. Nevertheless I did cry sometimes as the journey was getting very quiet with everybody around me dozing every now and then. So, amma kept singing nursery rhymes to calm me down. I used...

Hello everybody. Amma tells me that many of you who read my first blog really liked it and sent your compliments to amma. A big thank you for all your comments. They have inspired me to write once again about my exciting day to day activities. In a week's time I will be 9 months old. I will be entering into the last quarter of my first year. Ooh time just flies; I better buck up and present an impressive first year activity report card. Hmmm, so what's new in my life now? NURSERYYYYYY! It had been 3 weeks since I started attending the nursery. I go 3 days a week to the nursery and spend about two and a half hours every session. Do I like it there? Of course I do. I love the garden with so many outdoor toys. Once I get there I have so many distractions that I don't even see amma waving me goodbye and telling me that she will be back soon. I ride on Sherry's hips as I still cannot walk on my own. There was a bubble machine installed there the other day and I loved play...

Hey there..... you have all heard enough from me. It is now time for my son to start writing. So put your hands together for the junior solitary reaper. Hello everybody. I am the junior solitary reaper. How about I describe the important day to day activities of a 7 month old i.e, me? You see, not many people know how action packed our lives can be! So let me start from the time I wake up which is usually about 6 in the morning. I make sure amma knows that I am awake by giving her a wake up call. By the time I roll over a couple of times in my bed and wish a very good morning to all my toys I have a heavy smelly diaper. Lucky for me amma has a sharp sense of smell. She quickly changes my nappy and ah what a feeling it is to get into a fresh new one. She then takes me to appa's room where I play with him in the bed for some time. I then enjoy a fresh sip of milk which generally makes me doze off... zzzzz..... By the time I wake up which is about 20 minutes later, lo behold, amma...